change is coming – be part of it
Make Your Voice Heard in Trustee Area Elections
The Board of Trustees has made it official. Starting with the November 2022 election, the Foothill-De Anza Community College District will elect its governing board members from five trustee areas rather than at-large. On Feb. 14, 2022, the board adopted a resolution approving the transition from districtwide, at-large elections to trustee area elections; adopted Map A establishing the five trustee election areas; and determined which two areas would be first to elect trustees in area elections in 2022.
Community members have participated in this process in a variety of ways:
- Express your opinion – email TrusteeAreas@fhda.edu
- Attend public hearings – five public hearings were held in 2021 and 2022
- Use the mapping tool to propose trustee area boundaries
- Sign up for email updates at TrusteeAreas@fhda.edu – write "keep me posted" in the subject line
Transitioning to trustee area elections
On March 11, 2019, the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees adopted a resolution stating that the district will change the way that voters elect trustees for the first time since its founding in 1957.
Under the new system, instead of electing governing board members “at-large” with results decided by a districtwide vote, voters will elect one trustee from each of five smaller geographic areas, beginning in November 2022. The district's 400,000+ residents will be divided into five "trustee areas" of roughly equal population size based on the 2020 Census. To run for election in a trustee area, a candidate must live in that area. The new system is intended to provide fair and equal representation for all district residents and will make it easier and less expensive to campaign for a seat on the board.
Public involvement is essential to the process of dividing the district into trustee areas.
The decision to move to trustee area elections – also called "by-district" elections – was made in response to a demand letter from a lawyer representing a district resident, Sebastian Aguilar, which asserted that the Foothill-De Anza Community College District's system of at-large elections may violate the California Voting Rights Act. It is one of many similar letters sent to local jurisdictions in recent years claiming that at-large elections abridge the voting rights of minority populations. These letters state that unless a change is made to by-district elections is made, a lawsuit will be filed.
This website is intended to inform district residents about the "districting" process and how to participate in it.
All aspects of the process will be conducted openly and in public. Recordings of meetings, presentations, and draft trustee area boundary maps, once drawn, will all be available on this website.
Trustee area elections will be implemented over two election cycles.
Do you live in the district?
You can determine if you live in the district by typing your address into the Look Up Your District tool on the website of the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.
You can also check the district boundary map. Foothill-De Anza encompasses the Palo Alto Unified, Mountain View Los Altos Union High School and Fremont Union High School districts.